Author: Stamp All The Things!

Hi there! Thank you for visiting! My name is Sphoorti. I know it's a hard name, so you can call me "Sporty", which is what a lot of people do (LOL). When I was in school, I'd know when the teacher was about to call on my name because he/she would pause and start saying, "I know I'm going to butcher this name...." Haha! I'd change my name to make it easier for everyone, but I love its meaning in my native language, which is "inspiration".
I'm originally from South India, but I currently live near Los Angeles, CA and have been in the US for around 15 years (4 of which were when I was a teenager). When I was a teenager, I used to make my own cards. By "cards", I mean pieces of printer paper folded in half with confetti and stickers glued onto them, and sentiments written out with Gelly Roll pens. I'm not sure why I stopped (might have had something to do with my family moving back to India around that time), but in December 2016, I rediscovered the wonderful world of cardmaking and have been in love and hooked ever since!
I was drawn to all the card drives that companies / other people have (for example, the Caring Hearts Card Drive (by Vera Yates), and the Altenew Celebrating Parents card drive), and have been spending a lot of my free time mass producing cards for them. Oh, and I just came across a new card drive called Cards for Little Hearts, and it's for the Nationwide Children's Hospital who are looking to send Birthday and Graduation cards to patients and I can't wait to start making cards for them as well.
My day job is in Software - I'm a consultant. Not sure how I ended up here either, because my original dream was to become a pilot, but when I took the introductory course, I learned that my feet wouldn't reach the pedals because I'm too short. So, there went that dream! (I'm 5' tall in case you're wondering. :) )
My future goals as far as cardmaking goes include having my own YouTube channel, and also designing my own stamps (for which I'll need to learn new tools such as Adobe Illustrator - you'd think I know how to use this tool already being in the software field, but nope!). I've had a number of good ideas but I'm still looking into how to go about making / selling stamps. Oh, and one my goals was to start my own blog, and it looks like I'm about to reach that goal right now. Yay!

I’ve been paying for this WordPress subscription since I began (maybe 1.5 years ago?), and I have 3 posts. <Shame!> I thought about it and realized why it’s been hard for me to get back into posting.

Because I’m in the software field and I’m on my computer all day. Getting back on to do yet another activity on my laptop fills me with dread sometimes, and other times, I’m just lazy.

Because I have the perfectionist + procrastination condition that makes me want things to be perfect, and I push it to a later date so that I can post it when perfect. Haha!

Because my boyfriend’s sweet kitty sits / curls up on me for hours and I experience feline paralysis (can’t move until she’s done with her nap). LOL!

I know, these seem like excuses, but I swear, it’s true!!!

Anyway, moving on to the actual post… I made a card for a colleague for her b’day. I really feel like something’s missing in this card. I can’t figure out what it is. I took a while and couldn’t come up with anything so off it went. Please let me know your thoughts on how I could have made this better. I’d love to hear your suggestions!

So, I used the Nuvo Shimmer Powder in Violet Brocade and colored the balloons on some Koh-i-noor watercolor paper, and then did the inlay technique to put in the balloon parts onto the card base (made of Neenah / Classic Crest Solar White 110# cardstock). I covered the balloons with some glossy accents. I used Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and one of the lavender colors which I can’t remember right now. (Sorry!) and coated the sentiment (from MFT Stamps) with some Wink of Stella. Then, I scattered some Studio Katia clear rhinestones around the balloons.

So, I watched the movie, Split, a while ago in the theater. My boyfriend hasn’t seen it yet, so we decided to watch it today. I wouldn’t say this is a spoiler, but one of the characters is a “10 year old” kid who says “Etcetera”. It made me laugh (I guess you’d have to be there, lol) so I thought it would be fitting to call this blog post that. Yeaaah… I’m weird.

I diecut the balloons out of the card front (also the same cardstock) as well. I used Be Creative tape on the card front after cutting the balloons out the card front. This is so that I could inlay the balloons later.

So, as you can see in the pictures, the three balloons have different textures. I used a different technique on each one of them. All three of them have Glossy Accents on them.

The first balloon has the Glossy Accents, topped with Crisp Air Mini Seed Beads by The Ton Stamps. I absolutely love these, they’re tiny and great for this technique. I guess a lot of people love them too, because I always see them out of stock. Effie, if you’re reading this, please restock them because I’ll buy ’em all! 🙂 ❤

Anyway, immediately after putting the Glossy Accents on the balloon, I poured the seed beads so that they’d stick to the balloon. This was one of Nina’s techniques. After it dries, the balloon looks like it has sugar crystals on top, which I absolutely love!

The middle balloon has the Glossy Accents alone – a classic.

The third one was topped with Glossy Accents first, followed by the seed beads. Right after I poured the seed beads, I coated the balloon with another layer of Glossy Accents. This one – I wasn’t as fond of. I felt like it looked diseased, like a rash or something. I checked with the cousin who received this card, and she said it was just me. I was glad to hear it.

So, starting with this blog post, I decided to add a new section. Thought I’d call it “Just another Regret” (Think Dirty Little Secret. LOL!). Seems to me that every card I make – I feel like I could have done something differently or something better. And this section is going to be a list of those regrets. They may not seem like valid faults to you, or maybe you like something that I don’t because we all have our own tastes. But, I figured I’d list them out anyway. Some of them might end up being valuable tips (stuff I learned myself), and if I were to remake the card, I’d use those tips. So here we go.

Just Another Regret:

I should have first put the glossy accents and seed beads on the balloons. I inlay them first onto the card front, and then did the glossy accents. This caused the card front to warp a little. Next time, I’ll put the glossy accents on the die cut balloons, and then attach them to the card once dry.

I shouldn’t have waited till the end to stamp. Always do the stamping first before mounting the card front onto the card base. (Luckily I didn’t make mistakes, but I could have!) LOL

Don’t put glossy accents on top of the seed beads. (This is only if you feel that it looks rash-like to you. haha!)

…

Hmm, that’s interesting. I could have sworn I had more than 3. Seems like I’m happier with this card than I remembered! 🙂

Whoa! I just scrolled all the way up to the top of this blog post and I realized it’s LONG! Who knew that the length of my blog post is directly proportional to the length of the movie I had playing in the background? Hahaha!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe learned something along the way or at least laughed or smiled at one of my stupid jokes? 🙂 Please do let me know if you have any questions. As always, I would love to hear from you guys! 🙂

I stamped the sentiment from the Everyday Sentiments stamp set by Pretty Pink Posh. Can’t get over her pretty handwriting either! ❤ [I do wish I stamped with the distress inks I used for the flowers instead of plan black, but that ship has sailed] LOL.

I *may* or *may not* have used a sheet of fun foam between the card front and card base. Also, I *may* or *may not* have heat embossed the sentiment. I cannot remember for the life of me, and I can’t tell from the pictures, but I can check with the person I sent it to, if you’re really curious. LOL

I was placed on a project in August last year, and one of my colleagues from the client side on the project is Jewish. So, when I made my Christmas cards for 2018 (which were all sent in late, by the way, due to my work schedule which was stuffed), I made one for him specifically for Hanukkah instead – he ended up getting it after New Year’s – oops. LOL. I didn’t have any stamp sets for Hanukkah, and I came across the Love you a Latke stamp set by LawnFawn and thought it would be great for this card, and purchased it!

It’s a fairly clean and simple card. It’s one layer (because I don’t have the coordinating dies for this set). There is a layer of fun foam between the card front and card base, but that doesn’t count, right? LOL

BTW, today is my last day on the project and I’ll be on the bench the next few weeks, meaning that I’ll be able to craft more, and also post more on IG, and this blog! Be afraid. Be very afraid. LOL. JKJK!

About two months ago when I published my first blog post, one of my cousins saw it and texted me, and said the sweetest things about it. She said that she’s incredibly happy that cardmaking brings me so much joy, and that I found such a loving community, and how I took the leap and created a blog even though I was worried that no one would read it.

Just the fact that she read my blog was enough, but that she took the time to send me such sweet and encouraging messages meant so much to me, I just HAD to make a card for her!

I made and sent this card to her a month ago but I was so busy with work (working almost 60 – 80 hour weeks the last two months 😦 ) I didn’t get a chance to write up the blog post. I decided to put work aside for a few minutes today and write this up. (Oh, and I know it doesn’t take very long to write up a blog post and stuff, but I’m obsessed with making things perfect and I knew that it would take me longer than a few minutes to do this – because I’d need to ensure that the language / grammar etc. is correct, and that I need some jokes (even if they’re bad ones) in there to entertain those who would read it, and that I put links to the products I used in case someone wants to purchase them, and that the pictures I have look okay, and that I have a corresponding post on my Instagram account, and a bunch of other things that I can’t think of right now. If I waited until I had a blog post that was perfect by my standards, I’d probably end up publishing it next year or never, so I figured I’d just do it! 🙂 I couldn’t really come up with any jokes myself today, so I’m gonna borrow from my other IG account where I letter funny things that I find online in memes etc. (Check out the account @LettersandLaughter if you’d like a good laugh 🙂 ) Here’s the funny: (it kinda relates to my work life right now. hahah!)

After making the card, I realized that I wished the background was darker. I’d have been able to achieve that by embossing the background with clear or black embossing powder, but by the time I realized that, I had already assembled everything. 😦 But hey – lesson learned! Plus, my cousin liked and appreciated the card, so, mission accomplished! 🙂

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, or learned something from it, or found it helpful or useful or entertaining in some way. 🙂 Please do let me know your thoughts / questions. I love hearing from you!!! 🙂

Truth is, I never thought I’d be into cross stitching, or just stitching in general. I used to see my mom crochet and my aunts stitch stuff and while I found it fascinating to watch, I was overwhelmed by the amount of time and patience it requires, and never thought I’d be able to even start working on a piece, let alone finish it. Then, I saw a Jennifer McGuire cross-stitching video. I think you can probably guess what happened next. LOL! I went on a shopping spree and bought a bunch of DMC Pearl Cotton Variations Flosses and Cross Stitching Dies and needles and a thing to hold all these things… and so many other things! I just went nuts.

Then, I was back to feeling overwhelmed by all the supplies I bought, and whether I’d be good at it, or even like it. I kept putting it off for a while, just like I did with the glitter paste (see my FOMAM blog post for the full story) and then finally, decided to just try it. And Oh…. My…. God!!!! (Pretend I said it like Janice from Friends – haha!) I was, and still am, absolutely hooked! I have no idea what it is, but it’s so addictive! Who knew it would be so satisfying poking a piece of paper a million times?! Haha!

So, originally, I bought the Paper Smooches Cross Stitched Rectangle die and it’s a large rectangle and it took me a while to finish one of the cards. So, what I did was – I started cutting them into strips and making multiple cards out of just one of the Cross Stitched Rectangle die cuts. (You can find variations of these on my Instagram account).

Then I came across the Studio Katia Stitched Borders dies. If you’re looking for just a few rows of holes, it’s perfect for you! Okay, that sounded weird, but what else do you call the holes? Anyone know? Please let me know in the comments if you do. hahaha!

So in addition to the long rectangles, there is a small square die with a very small number of holes. It looked like the perfect weapon of mass production for me! haha! So, I used the square to cut out three squares with the holes and cross stitched them in. Then, I used 3mm Moonstone sequins by Simon Says Stamp and some seed beads from Pretty Pink Posh (I don’t remember which specific ones, sorry!) and stitched those in too. At this point, I thought I’d just put a sentiment die cut and call it a day, but then, I left my sentiment dies at home, and I was at my boyfriend’s place at the time. The only thing I had was a “Holiday Wishes” sentiment on vellum that I embossed and kept ready last year when I was mass producing cards. So, I figured I’d make this card a holiday card and drew lines with a silver Gelly Roll pen connecting the top of the card to the squares making them look like ornaments. I didn’t think the silver Gelly Roll was very prominent so I stuck pieces of silver thread on top. And this is what I ended up with!

What do you guys think? Please do let me know in the comments section! 🙂

Have you ever been nervous about trying something because you were worried about the amount of mess it would result in? It doesn’t have to be related to crafting. Even cooking or some other task!

I have. LOL

I’m a worrier, and a good one, too! And I’ve often steered clear of doing things that might result in a mess, be it cooking something complicated, or making a card using things like alcohol inks or glimmer or texture pastes.

I saw so many posts on Instagram where people used glitter / glimmer pastes and I thought they were beautiful, and I ordered the Nuvo Moonstone Glimmer Paste as soon as I saw the posts! I’ve had it in my drawer for around 5 – 6 months. I kept thinking that I should use it, but I was worried about the cleanup I’d have to do after using it. I kept thinking about how the paste would get on the stencils, and the craft mat / whatever I did the work on, and the palette knife, not to mention my fingers! And I was like, “Ain’t nobody got the time to clean that up!” But I decided I stalled long enough. I thought, “Big deal if there’s a mess, I’ll just play some card making videos on my iPad and watch them while cleaning so that it becomes more of a fun activity than a chore.”

And voila! I made this card! It was so much fun to make, and see how lovely the effect of the glitter paste was! It wasn’t hard to clean up either! I was so crazy to not have tried this sooner!

Then, I offset the stencil a little and spread the glimmer paste on it.

Note: The Glimmer Paste will react with the distress ink and change color a little, which is beautiful, but be sure not to stick the same palette knife back into the jar, because it will contaminate it.

Then, I removed the stencil and admired the beauty of the background. LOL

Note: Be sure to clean the stencil with warm water immediately after using the glimmer paste on it, because otherwise, it dries on the stencil and won’t come off.

After leaving it out to air dry (which didn’t take long at all), I assembled the card:

I used the Altenew Congrats word die to cut out a bunch of the congrats die cuts using Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# Cardstock.

I put maybe 3 – 4 of them together using liquid adhesive because I wanted a thick sentiment.

I cut the same sentiment out of gold foil cardstock this time, and layered it on top of the other die cuts. In the picture, it doesn’t look it, but it actually has a smooth, glossy finish.

I cut a piece of foam sheet (slightly smaller than the card front) and used it as a backing for the card front.

After doing all of the above, I admired the beauty of the glimmer paste a little longer (LOL) and then took pictures so that I could post them on Instagram. I actually posted it a few days ago, but didn’t get a chance to write the blog post until now.

Dude, I just scrolled up and realized I typed up a lot! I hope I didn’t bore you! If you’ve made it this far and are still here, please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts or if you have any FOMAMs, or any fears in general! I’d love to see your comments! 🙂